Comer urges Congress to weigh prediction-market trading ban

In a Nov. 13 release, the committee said its investigation examined insider-trading risks involving government officials, military personnel and people with security clearances. It received five bipartisan staff briefings. Comer, a Kentucky Republican, said legislation should cover federal employees, lawmakers and congressional staff, arguing that public servants should not profit personally from nonpublic information gained through their work.

Options include prohibiting officials from using prediction markets altogether or limiting their access to government-related contracts. The committee also urged Congress to encourage exchanges and federal agencies to share information that could help enforce any restrictions. Kalshi and Polymarket have said they strengthened insider-trading controls, while the investigation examined how platforms identify government personnel.

The inquiry began with May 22 requests to Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan and Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour for records on account verification, geographic restrictions and suspicious trading. It also examined whether users could evade limits by accessing offshore platforms. By Sept. 29, the committee had requested records from Hyperliquid Labs, Crypto.com and Aristotle Exchange, which operates PredictIt. It then reported receiving nearly 1,000 documents and five briefings from Kalshi and Polymarket representatives.

Cases cited in the broader debate include Army Master Sergeant Gannon Ken Van Dyke, who was indicted on allegations that he used classified information about the operation to capture former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to win more than $409,000 on Polymarket. He pleaded not guilty. In another case, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said former White House teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez used advance access to President Donald Trump’s remarks to trade on Kalshi from December 2025 to February 2026. Perez agreed to return $107,539.02 in profits, pay a $65,000 civil penalty and accept a three-year trading ban.

The Senate already bars its members and staff from prediction-market trading. It adopted the ban by unanimous consent on April 30, following a resolution introduced by Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno. Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson later said she would introduce a similar measure for the House. Kalshi also suspended three congressional candidates—Mark Moran, Matt Klein and Ezekiel Enriquez—in April over trades tied to their own campaigns; the exchange said it did not refer those cases to the CFTC or Justice Department.